Effects of Systematically Increasing Contextual Interference on Basketball Players' Skill Performance: A Randomised Controlled Trial

Resumen

This study is a randomised controlled trial that aims to investigate the impact of different levels of contextual interference (blocked, increasing, and random) on basketball skill performance in male college students. A sample of 106 male college students, who were in good health and had no prior basketball experience, were randomly divided into three groups: blocked schedule (BS), increasing schedule (IS), and random schedule (RS). During a nine-week period, all groups received training in basketball skills, including shooting, dribbling, and passing. Each group adhered to a unique practice schedule. The assessment of skill performance included a pre-test, Post-test 1 (Skill acquisition test), Post-test 2 (Skill retention test), and Post-test 3 (Skill transfer test). The first three tests shared similar content and scoring criteria, while the skill transfer test presented novel challenges. The statistical significance level was defined as p<0.05. An initial analysis utilising Mixed-Design Repeated Measure MANOVA indicated significant differences among the three groups in relation to all basketball skill scores (p < 0.05). The BS group demonstrated superior performance compared to the IS and RS groups in shooting (FT:17.01±1.52), dribbling (SD:8.39±1.62), and passing (CP:3.60 ±1.01) during the skill acquisition test. However, the IS group demonstrated better performance in shooting (FT:16.26±1.82), dribbling (SD:7.52±0.72), and passing (CP:2.91±0.89) in the skill retention test compared to the BS and RS groups. The results of the one-way MANOVA analysis on post-test 3 indicated that the IS group performed significantly better in the skill transfer test (SS:19.89±2.86, CD:11.25±0.78, and RP:41.86 ±2.84) compared to the BS and RS groups (p<0.05). The results indicate that a higher frequency of practice sessions leads to improved basketball skills in beginners, particularly during the skill retention and transfer stages. The IS schedule is an effective method for improving basketball skills.